No peace until they are in your arms

The text message read: "Sam is alive! In refugee camp in Nias." Minutes later Matthew Jacobson was on the phone to share the good news from a hotel in the Sumatran port town of Padang.

"It's outstanding," Mr Jacobson said, as he told how he had finally tracked down his close friend, 25-year-old surfer Sam Green, who had not been heard of since the tsunami disaster.

A reported sighting on Sunday by a Sumatran fuel merchant on Nias, a small island off the west coast of Sumatra, was the high point of a rescue mission that took Mr Jacobson and Sam's brother, Ben, from their respective homes in Canberra and Adelaide to Sumatra last week.

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But Mr Jacobson and Mr Green, like many others searching after the tsunami, have since learnt a hard lesson: not to believe their loved ones are alive until they are holding them in their arms.

Their search has been frustrated by dead-end leads, conflicting reports and messages muddled in translation.

The text message that Sam was alive has since been tarnished by contradictory information, tempering initial optimism.

"We had someone go and try and make a visual confirmation and found out that it wasn't Sam," Mr Jacobson said yesterday. "Then we had another person say that it was.

"What we're starting to realise, and it's a very cultural thing, is that if you ask a leading question, the answer is always yes."

The pair planned to set off on a 16-hour boat journey to search a popular surf break, known as HT's, in the Mentawai islands, 120 kilometres off the west coast of Sumatra, on the strength of yet another sighting.

Richard Green, Sam's father, said yesterday: "At this stage we've got no further results or any further details."

Joe Berman, the father of a missing permanent resident, is due to leave South Africa tomorrow to continue looking for his son, Avadya, and his son's partner, Nikola Liebowitz.

Mr Berman will join other family members in Phuket, who have been searching for the couple since early last week.

But while some have been trawling makeshift Thai morgues and hospitals, the family of dive-shop owner Rob Campbell believe they are more help at home.

Mr Campbell, 44, ran The Dive Inn on Patong Beach for more than a decade, but his parents and sister Fiona have not been able to contact him since the tsunami hit on Boxing Day.

Ms Campbell said they decided to respect the wishes of the Government and search for her brother from their Queensland home by looking at dozens of photos taken on family holidays to Thailand.

In some, they could make out phone numbers, and have called all the businesses that once lined the beach, praying that one number would still be connected and someone would have news on Mr Campbell.

"It's hard on Mum and Dad because they just want to know but there was no point going over because we have contacted the foreign embassy, who don't want families over there," Ms Campbell said.

In Cairns, the friends and family of missing schoolteacher Kim Walsh established a makeshift operations centre in her home, while Ms Walsh's brother, Rod Emerson, and cousin Terry Emerson headed to Thailand to search. However a family friend said, more than a week on, the operations centre had been closed down.

The principal of Trinity Bay State High School, Stephen Savvakis, said he was turning his thoughts to how to approach the first few days of the new school year. "It's going to be a particularly difficult time, with 83 staff missing a colleague," he said.